The uplifting sports stories of 2013 were overshadowed by dollars, drugs and danger

8:57 AM,
Dec. 31, 2013

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2013, file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez arrives at the offices of Major League Baseball in New York. Rodriguez's 211-game suspension was the longest of the 13 announced in August for players connected to a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned PEDs. The Yankees' slugger was the only one to contest the penalty, and the year ends with an arbitrator yet to rule. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

Written by

Stephen Edelson
| Commentary

New Year's Eve has arrived and it's time to celebrate. Not because of what happened over the past 12 months, but the fact that it's finally over.

From a sports perspective, it's hard to remember wanting to turn the page on a year as much as this past one, if for no other reason than the next one can't help but be better.

The lasting memories will revolve around packed press conferences with masters of double-talk at the dais, the head-spinning numbers associated with big-time college athletics, the addition of "Biogenesis" to the lexicon of the steroid era, the long-term effects of C.T.E. on ...